This is a list of Bradford City A.F.C. seasons in English and European football, from 1903—when the club were formed—to the 2007–08 season. It details the club's achievements in senior league and cup competitions, European competitions and the top scorers for each season. The list of top scorers also chronicles how the club's scoring records have progressed throughout the club's history.
Bradford City were formed in 1903 and were elected into the Second Division before they had even played a game. Bradford City and Chelsea, in 1905, remain the only teams to be elected into the league before playing a competitive fixture. The club were promoted to the First Division when they won the Second Division title in 1907–08. In 1910–11 the club recorded their highest league position of fifth and also won their only major honour when captain Jimmy Speirs lifted the FA Cup after he scored the only goal to defeat Newcastle United 1–0 in the final replay. Bradford City's honours also include the Third Division North title in 1928–29 and the Third Division crown in 1984–85, as well as the Third Division North Challenge Cup in 1938–39.
Bradford City have spent two seasons in the Premier League. In 1999–2000, they avoided relegation with just 36 points, then a record low to stay up, after defeating Liverpool 1–0 in the final game with a headed goal from David Wetherall. The club have won promotion in a total of eight seasons and been relegated on ten occasions; three relegations in the previous seven seasons meant the 2007–08 season was their first in the fourth tier in 26 years. Bradford City have also played in European competition when they took one of England's two places in the Intertoto Cup in 2000. They defeated FK Atlantas and RKC Waalwijk before being knocked out by FC Zenit Saint Petersburg in the semi-finals.
Read more about Bradford City A.F.C. Seasons: Seasons, Key, Footnotes
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“I feel all dead inside. I’m backed up in a dark corner and I don’t know who’s hitting me!”
—Jay Dratler, U.S. screenwriter, Bernard Schoenfeld, and Henry Hathaway. Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens)
“The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“Let there be seasons so that our tongues will be rich in asparagus and limes.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)